My new FNX-40 carry gun

This is a discussion on My new FNX-40 carry gun within the Defensive Carry Guns forums, part of the Defensive Carry Discussions category; A new gun shop opened for business in my area last month. Assuming that the prices offered by this shop are competitive, it gives me ...

My new FNX-40 carry gun

A new gun shop opened for business in my area last month. Assuming that the prices offered by this shop are competitive, it gives me an additional local source to fill my needs without having to wait for deliveries from out-of-town vendors. I went there on Monday to see if they had a .40 S&W pistol I might buy to alternate with my Glock 27 for concealed carry purposes.

Although new, the shop was quite well stocked with both long guns and handguns. As I scanned the handgun section I saw a semi-automatic pistol that captured my gaze. It was a FN FNX-40. FN Herstal is a firearms manufacturer located in Herstal, Belgium. It is the parent company of two subsidiaries in the United States, FN Manufacturing and FNH USA. FNH is located in Columbia, South Carolina.

A large number of their products, produced in the United States are used by the U.S. military and by the armed forces of over 100 countries. They include, M249 and M240 machine guns, M16 rifles, the Browning Hi-Power pistol, Five-seven pistol, FAL rifle, FNC rifle, F2000 rifle, P90 submachine gun, M2 Browning machine gun, MAG machine gun, and Minimi machine gun. FNH USA also produces a catalogue of pistols and rifles for law enforcement and civilian use. The FNX-40 is one of their top new .40 S&W models.

The moment I saw the FNX-40, I knew it was what I was looking for. It is a beautiful looking pistol whose surface coating and ergonomics are the best I have seen in a polymer hand gun. l bought it and now have a FN 66852 model FNX-40 to carry at times instead of my Glock 27.

The size of this pistol is such that I will be able to easily carry it concealed. Having a capacity of 1 round in the pipe and 14 in its magazine of powerful .40 S&W ammunition provides me with plenty of firepower without having to carry an additional magazine.

I have the FNX 9. Great guns...just make sure you dont have an early model with the trigger issues. Shoot it till its very warm, then make sure it still fires in double action. Otherwise, like you said, the best feeling polymer gun out there. Glock could take some ergonomics lessons from the FNX (now retreating to my bunker to avoid the glock-lovers air strike )

Enjoy the pistol. I have the two-tone FNX 40 and love it. Crossbreed supertuck IWB holster makes the FNX easy to carry and conceal. I've got roughly 2K rounds through mine and not a single failure of any kind...Eric

I took my FN FNX-40 shooting for the first time. One of the things I wanted to do was compare it with my Glock 27 since both are both .40 S&W polymer pistols and are nearly the same size.

Besides being large in length and height, the FN is very different the Glock. The FNX has a TDA trigger system. The Glock has a striker-fired trigger system. The FNX system is single/double action with ambidextrous decocking/manual safety levers When its trigger is pressed the hammer cocks and at the end releases the exposed hammer on the first shot with the cycling slide cocking it for subsequent shots. It can also be cocked by pushing the safety lever upward just like a 1911.

If you don’t want the hammer back, you press the safety lever down and it decocks the hammer. The lever pops up when you let go and the pistol now has a double-action trigger pull. With a decocked hammer, press the lever up, the pistol becomes double action and locked on Safe. Whew! Sounds confusing but after going through these function a few times, it becomes routine to do what you want to do.

Another difference between the FNX and my Glock 27 is the weight distribution. I have no factual evidence to support my opinion but the FNX-40 feels better balanced in my hand even with the larger 14-round loaded magazine than the smaller Glock with its loaded 9-round magazine. I think the reason is the longer and higher overall size of the FNX distributes the weight more evenly.

I loaded three different types of ammunitions into 14-round OEM magazines and divided my shooting hours into four half-our segments:

I shot 42 rounds of Blazer CCI #3951 180gr for my initial familiarization with the pistol

My last magazine was loaded with my carry ammo, 14 rounds of Winchester #Q4369 180gr JHP. This is the civilian boxed FBI PDXI .40 S&W ammunition. I tried to concentrate and get my best accuracy of the day shooting at a 10 yard target.

For all of my shooting, I stood and using both the standing Isosceles and Weaver techniques.

The pistol handled all of the ammunition without a failure. This bodes well for future reliability.

The textured grip felt comfortable and secure in my hands.

Regarding accuracy, the pistol is dead-on. The aforementioned balance was evident in the fast and easy realignment on target I was able to do after the recoil of the .40 S&W ammo.

I was also delighted with the three dot sights. They are excellent and held my focus during sight shooting drills. Unlike some similar size and weighted 1911’s I have had, this gun never felt heavy in my hands at any time even with sustained shooting.

After shooting this beautiful FNX-40 for the first time, I felt like a teen after a first date with a pretty girl. I want to go back for more.

The pistol was easy to shoot, did not hic cough and was accurate. Because I shot a large number of rounds in a short period of time, I think that if my pistol had been one of those with the trigger problem, it would have occurred during my session. Nothing bad happened.

The pistol felt very comfortable shooting those powerful rounds. I think it is a very fine carry gun and I intend to put it on my right hip under a jacket when I do carry it.